Friday, July 25, 2014

Aladdin Technique

Inspired by Daniel from Puzzled Vikings, I just started playing Scarlet Heroes campaign.

One of the tools I am using in this campaign is The Aladdin Technique by John Fiore.
What is The Aladdin Technique?
Exactly.
Well, I do not want to invent hot water, so I will just share original post by John from G+ solo RPG group:

"The "Aladdin" Technique - an easy way to spontaneously spice up RPG encounter ideas, solo or otherwise

STEP 1:
Write an encounter set-up in a single sentence. Bracket-off each key
element, action word/phrase, and descriptor, but not any references to
the PCs. (I aim for six items.)

So, in an opera-themed
fantasy world, I’ve currently got two PCs on a treasure hunt in
cold-hearted Princess Turandot’s exotic kingdom. I wrote the following
encounter set-up:Orsini and Guglio try to [break into] an [old] [tomb] while [being pursued by] [Turandot’s] [warriors].

STEP 2 - Al: Randomly select one element or descriptor and alter it with inspirational help from a random idea generator like Mythic or Story Cubes.

I
had 6 elements and descriptors in my set-up sentence. I rolled a d6 and
got a 2 for the [old] descriptor. I rolled a Story Cube and got an
image of waves. So, I altered my sentence into:Orsini and Guglio try to [break into] a [submerged] [tomb] while [being pursued by] [Turandot’s] [warriors].

STEP 3 - Add: Randomly select one element or descriptor and add a word or phrase immediately before or after it with inspirational help from a random idea generator.

I
rolled a d6 again and got a 5 for the [Turandot’s] descriptor. I rolled
a Story Cube and got an image of a person dancing. So, my sentence
became:Orsini and Guglio try to [break into] a [submerged] [tomb] while [being pursued by] [Turandot’s] [capoeira] [warriors].A weirdly satisfying development!

STEP 4 - In: Create intrigue
by following the encounter set-up sentence with an ambiguous question
devised via inspirational help from a random idea generator.

I rolled a Story Cube and got an image of an apple. That gave me the final version of the encounter concept:

Orsini
and Guglio try to break into a submerged tomb while being pursued by
Turandot’s capoeira warriors. But what is the nature of the strange
fruit growing out of the water surrounding the tomb?

And that’s it! In four steps, the encounter has been embellished in ways the player(s) could never have expected!﻿"